'It's an Everest for a conductor... It's beautifully put together, and yet it remains one of the biggest challenges for any musician'.

Antonio Pappano, Music Director of the Royal Opera House, has conducted Verdi'sOtello numerous times but, as reflected in this archive clip, remains in awe of the incredible sophistication of the opera's orchestral score and the way in which it uses 'simple' techniques to reflect complex emotions.

In the opening scene, the people of Cyprus are watching a stormy sea battle between the Turkish army and the Cypriot forces, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Otello, their new governor. Given that the battle scene takes place offstage, Verdi relied on his music to influence the audience's perception of the storm and battle and to illustrate its scale:

'The people of Cyprus see Otello and this battle in the distance... We don't see it, but the fact that we don't creates an even greater image'.

The composer plunges the audience into the raging storm with a sound-world that conjures lightening and thick fog, as well as the watching crowd's feelings of uncertainty and fear. Pappano describes this clever combination of simple melodies as 'the economy of means', something which carries through to the best-known theme in the opera: the love theme at the end of Act 1 which uses beautiful harmonies and subtle patterns to create the feeling of being overwhelmed by happiness.

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Otello runs 21 June—15 July 2017 . Tickets are still available for some performances.

This production is staged with generous support from Rolex, and with generous philanthropic support from Lord and Lady Laidlaw, Mrs Susan A. Olde OBE, Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet, Alfiya and Timur Kuanyshev, Mr and Mrs Baha Bassatne, John G. Turner & Jerry G. Fischer, Ian and Helen Andrews, Mercedes T. Bass, Maggie Copus, Mrs Trevor Swete, Beth Madison, John McGinn and Cary Davis, the Otello Production Syndicate, The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund and an anonymous donor.

During a performance, if you can take your eyes off the stellar singers and stagecraft, look a little closer. Very occasionally, hidden on the lip of the stage, peeping up from the orchestra pit, you might catch a glimpse of one of opera's most hidden (and to unfamiliar eyes, peculiar) features: the prompter's box.

It's a fairly thankless task, with a unforgiving job description: you must be prepared to spend up to five hours in a small, cramped box mouthing the words to an opera accompanied by constrained hand gestures. You'll have to delicately navigate the conductor's relationship with the singers. And you'll need to wear old clothes, as dust may be kicked in your face by the singers’ feet.

On the plus side, much like the fabled homeworkers who have Skype meetings in their underwear, your outfit is probably the least of your concerns: the singers only see a head and pair of hands popping up from the prompt box, which is recessed into the stage and is designed to be as subtle as possible. Despite this, the prompter’s box is often disliked by modern directors and designers whose concepts and set designs often don't allow for a hidden hatch. It is not feasible for operas with large orchestras – in fact, in a departure from 50 years ago when every performance was prompted, prompters at the Royal Opera House are a rarity, only used for occasional performances. They remain more commonplace in the US and mainland Europe.

It should also be noted that prompting is a potentially perilous pursuit. The opera world abounds with stories of the occupational hazards and humiliations endured by prompters. There was the time that one tenor tumbled into the prompter’s box during a performance and had to pull himself out using the stage curtain. Or when a prompter was so engrossed in the improvisation of the singers she was supposed to be prompting that she forgot to prompt – until she heard her name included in their improvised singing.

Potential hazards aside, the prompter's job sounds simple enough: to keep the singers in time. They use a combination of hand gestures and subtle sounds to provide the singers with cues.

But, of course, it's not as easy as that. Each prompter develops his or her own style which may include using an index finger pointing up to indicate flat pitch or a palm held up to stop. Although prompters don’t sing along audibly they may make a sound with their lips (like smooching the air) at key moments or say the first couple of words of key phrases with the implications of rhythm to help singers with entries.

Prompters are highly skilled musicians. To be successful in the role you need to know the opera inside out, have outstanding musicality, sense of tempo, timing, tact and a cool head in a crisis. Also fluency in Italian and other staple repertory languages is preferred. In fact, many young conductors use the prompter's box as a training ground for their future career, as both prompting and conductors use similar techniques.

'Prompting is something you have to do if you want to be a conductor', says up-and-coming conductor and former Jette Parker Young Artist Jonathan Santagada. 'It’s like conducting off-stage. If you want to be an opera conductor you need these skills in your bag. Otherwise you don’t understand the machine, because opera is so big and so complex. So it’s important to do these difficult jobs so that you’re ready.’

Prompters are involved in the whole rehearsal process to get to know the singers and learn the conductor’s interpretation of the music. It also gives them a chance to study the singers’ weakness so they can anticipate mistakes and coach accordingly. But as any prompter will tell you, if a singer hasn’t learnt their part properly no amount of prompting can save their performance.

Still, in many opera houses around the world, prompting is still a full-time position treasured by the people who do it. And despite the long hours and cramped conditions, it's easy to see why: ‘You build a special relationship with the singers because they trust you. It’s quite something', says Santagada. 'You laugh or cry along and ultimately feel part of the show.’

For a close-up, money-can't-buy view, the prompter's position is unrivalled: 'You can feel everything. It’s like being on stage. You can really hear the singers breathing, struggling, everything. It’s incredible', says Santagada.

And at the end of the performance, although they're not part of the curtain call, the prompter may be rewarded for their marathon stint in a cramped, dusty box with the ultimate acknowledgement: the reflected applause of the singer they've coached through the previous three or four hours. If they're lucky, they may receive a hint of subtle applause or a blown kiss – a fitting public acknowledgement of a true hidden talent.

In 2014 he joined The Royal Opera's Jette Parker Young Artists Programme as a conductor and répétiteur. Young Artists are employed as salaried members of The Royal Opera over a two-year period, during which time they are immersed in the life of the Royal Opera House to help them form their own artistic identity and give them guidance on their trajectory through the business.

‘What’s fascinating for me in opera is that 200 people are working to achieve the same result. From the technicians to the orchestra, everyone has an important role. I couldn’t imagine spending my life on anything else because I like people. I want to create music with people.’

‘All conductors have their different approaches – it’s fascinating to see how each one brings the work together.’

One highlight for Jonathan so far has been working closely with Music Director of The Royal Opera, Antonio Pappano.

‘Pappano has a complete vision of the show. He sits within the musical realm of the orchestra pit but appreciates and emphasizes the theatrical elements. He cares about every detail on stage, in the pit and the auditorium. I’ve learnt a great deal from him.'

Jonathan particularly admires Pappano’s meticulous preparation and complete commitment: ‘Even when it’s just me and him, he conducts with the same energy. You feel like you have to give it back and be your best.'

Preparation is key to becoming a professional conductor: ‘I spend hours studying scores. It’s the only way to know the work inside out’. Jonathan has been set quite a challenge - by the end of this Season he will have worked on eight productions in less than a year.

In addition to assisting senior conductors, Jonathan has also had the opportunity to conduct Southbank Sinfonia in two very different operas in the Linbury Studio Theatre: La scala di seta and The Lighthouse. Last Summer, he conducted the Welsh National Opera Orchestra in the overture to the summer performance on the main stage and this summer he will conduct the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House an excerpt from Eugene Onegin.

As Jonathan's repertory continues to expand, he feels more passionate than ever that there is something in the art form for everyone.

‘I know people are sometimes scared of opera houses and opera. But these stories are actually still meaningful to us today. And often, at the end of the day, the music will win over a sceptical newcomer. It did for me.'

When I became interested in conducting, I was of course aware of the lack of prominent female conductors, but this was not the primary focus for me – the music was and is!

In my teens, I discovered an old score in the piano stool at my grandparents’ house. It was Johannes Brahms’s First Symphony. I hadn’t been exposed to such things before and intrigued, I bought a Classics for Pleasure recording of the work, with James Loughran conducting – for hours I sat with the score, listening, following, and trying to make sense of it.

My interest in the world of orchestral sound was fully ignited through this experience.

My father was a film sound recordist – which is perhaps where I get my love of orchestral sound from. To me, the orchestra is one large instrument, with infinitesimal possibilities for tone colour and dynamic range. Composing could have been an alternative career but my lack of abilities in that direction forbade it.

The gender issue is a tricky one. Once it becomes an unhealthy focus then the energies risk being directed that way rather than simply trying to be as decent a conductor as possible. That’s the advice I gave the women at a recent ballet conducting workshop held at the Royal Opera House.

I am wary of gender-specific workshops – I worry that by labelling workshops ‘women only’, the whole event potentially becomes about the issue – but right now there is a disparity between the number of female and male conductors and valuable initiatives like this are hopefully encouraging more women to conduct.

The weekend focused on what it means to become a ballet conductor and survive as one. A conductor for this genre has to have the art of compromise – it’s an added challenge to interpret a score, make it sing with the choreography while retaining the musical integrity of the composer’s intentions. A ballet conductor requires tenacity and subtlety, giving strong direction to musicians while coping with the choreography and any spontaneity that may happen on stage.

As the repertory expands, conducting for the ballet is more exciting than ever and I urge all conductors (of all genders) to consider it. To my shame I had never seen a full-length ballet before I applied for and won The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s competition ‘Conduct for Dance’ in 1993, expertly instigated and run by Barry Wordsworth. This gave me so much opportunity to become immersed in an art form which has become so special to me. I hope others will be inspired to do the same.

One of the great risks of conducting is that we have no possibility to hide in a practice room to hone our skills. This can lead to a lack of self-confidence in the young conductor. A conductor (male or female) should never stand in front of the orchestra and apologize for being there, through their body language or verbal means. This of course does necessitate a thorough preparation beforehand which, as I have learnt, is the only thing that will give the conductor true confidence in what they are trying to impart.

I am sure that many more female conductors will grace the podiums in future years. I was told by one of the participants of the Women’s Conducting Workshop, that female student conductors have outnumbered men in a year’s intake at the Royal Academy of Music, a very different scenario to when I was there. The future looks bright for female conductors and I hope we are on the way to a more equal environment, where a conductor is only assessed on skill and talent and not their sex.

While a conductor is required to direct and lead a musical performance, Bychkov reveals what the audience hears is a collaborative effort between all.

'If you think of a football team, the conductor is a coach and a player all at once'.

He says the pit is not hierarchical, but that he works alongside musicians and singers to deliver a shared artistic vision of how the score should sound.

'Conductors are musicians. It’s not musicians and conductors. A conductor is a musician who happens to conduct.'

Bychkov explains a conductor should also have a deep understanding of each musician’s part within the piece, in order to help them deliver their best performance.

'I study with them because I can see what the performers need and how they can best express themselves. I see where they are challenged, where the dangerous parts are. In a psychological way, I have to become them at the moment when they perform.'

Bychkov, whose career extends into both symphonic and operatic repertory, says to create 'something extraordinary', the performance has to balance technical brilliance and emotion.

'There has to be a harmony with intellect and sentiment. Both are equally important. If you perform only using intellect it will become too cerebral and will touch no one. If it is only heart, you will be the only one that is touched and no one else will understand.'

Bychkov won The Conductor of the Year at the Opera Awards 2015 and has performed with leading orchestras and opera houses in London, Paris, Vienna, Milan, Berlin, Chicago and New York, among others.

‘When I was younger, I thought Puccini was easy. Then when I grew up, I studied his scores and I said to myself, “Nicola, you were really stupid when you thought this about a great, talented and gifted and composer!”

‘Puccini is attractive because he speaks directly to our hearts’, he continues. ‘When I study at the piano, I can understand what is written technically, but how the sounds and orchestration of the instruments is combined is a mystery – it’s a miracle!’

‘What Puccini needs is that you breathe the music with him’, says Luisotti of how to approach the composer’s work as a conductor.

You're conducting twice at the Royal Opera House this Season: your Royal Opera debut with Idomeneo, and in the summer La traviata, which you're conducting for the first time. How do you go about getting to know a new orchestra?

Working with the orchestra is of course a new experience, every time. You have to be natural, you have to explain what you want, with not too many words – but words are also important sometimes. I'm always trying to give maximum importance to the dramaturgy – so people understand why we play this, in which context. The exciting thing is that the orchestra doesn't know Idomeneo very well. It is quite an honour to teach them, and to lead an orchestra that is so experienced as they discover such a major piece.

You and your ensemble Les Musiciens de Louvre Grenoble have been key figures in what's become known as the Baroque renaissance. But your repertory is much wider than that, extending up to the 21st century. How do you approach music from different periods?

I always try to find the right sound for the right repertoire – and sometimes, if possible, with the right instruments. But sometimes what you have in the mind, the fingers, the throat, the heart, is more important than the instruments you are using. I always like to know the spirit of a composer when he composed a piece, what was in his head at that time, what works he might have heard. I'm trying to work like a stage director with an actor – always questioning, finding the right language.

The libretto Mozart used was adapted from Idomenée, a 1712 French Baroque opera by André Campra, and it actually has this very straight form. Mozart was not forced to follow the libretto's construction, but he did. So the opera is 'reform' and not reform. Compared to [Gluck's] Orfeo, which is written in a very pure language, no dance music really, nothing very decorative, Idomeneo is more shiny and spectacular.
But there is a use of declamation, and this was the thing that Gluck had brought to classical opera. The strongest example of this in Idomeneo is Ilia, who starts her first recitative almost on the last bar of the overture, without the orchestra even really finishing properly.

The role of Idamante was originally written for a soprano castrato. Mozart later recast the role as a tenor and in this production the role is sung by countertenor Franco Fagioli. What are the modern options we have when finding a replacement for the castrato?

I've done Idomeneo several times with mezzo-sopranos singing Idamante, and once with a soprano and once with a tenor. Every voice has advantages and disadvantages, both with the music and with the stage. You want to have a strong relation and even rivalry between father and son – it's difficult when they are not from the same sex. But when you have a tenor singing Idamantes you tend to have brothers rather than father and son. The director Martin Kušej was really clear that he wanted a man to do the part.
I've worked with Franco several times in lower registers, but his voice was always quite high and now he's a real mezzo-soprano. It's exactly in his tessitura to do this role, and so it's very convincing because he can be a man and can sound like a man but at the original octave that Mozart intended. This, for the quartet, for the trio, is wonderful.

Idomeneo contains some amazingly inventive orchestration.Ilia's Act II aria ['Se il padre perdei'], with strings and solo flute, oboe, horn and bassoon accompanying the voice, is a masterpiece of simplicity. It's so poetic, so elegantly done. There's also the use of strings alone, for example making such intimacy in Elettra in Act II's 'Idol mio, se reitroso'. The writing here is almost archaic; you could think it's written by Pergolesi or Michael Haydn. There's also the use of four horns for Elettra's delirium scenes – this gives a lot of deepness and sometimes terrifying colours.

Do you have a favourite moment?The Act III quartet 'Andrò, ramingo e solo' is I think the masterpiece of all Mozart repertory. Every time I do this piece I come to this quartet and I can't believe how strong it is. This is my fifth production of Idomeneo. It's the only opera I have done so much. I'm very moved and honoured to come back to this piece, because it's always more incredible than the last time.

It is a word that appears in the librettos for many of Richard Strauss’s operas, including Elektra, and it is a fitting word to describe the many eerie orchestral effects Strauss created to tell these stories in microscopic orchestral detail. Flutter-tonguing woodwind and brass depict a flock of sheep in his tone poem Don Quixote, the wind audibly howls and haunts Herod in Salome, the ‘silver rose’ music of Der Rosenkavalier glitters, and we hear Daphne’s transformation from nymph to laurel tree as much as see it.

Telling the violent story of a daughter desperately obsessed with avenging her father’s murder, Richard Strauss’s Elektra is famously intense with a complex and challenging score. We spent time with Andris Nelsons in rehearsal with The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and he told us about the rewards and challenges of working on the opera.

‘For conductors who love Strauss, this is one of the most exciting operas you can conduct,’ says Andris. ‘Starting from the extremely soft, intimate moments when the soloists can whisper, to the explosions when you think your ears will explode... Elektra is a special, extraordinary piece.’

The opera’s score features the ‘Agamemnon motif’ throughout, a powerful musical idea that vividly portrays the anguish of a feuding family and re-enforces the themes of obsession and revenge. Find out more about the Agamemnon motif.